Alien: Isolation
Chapter Twenty One: Special Order 939
This had been by far the longest elevator ride that Ripley had taken since arriving at Sevastopol station, but then again, this was to be expected. After all, she had gone all the way to the top of Seegson Synthetics, and now had to travel almost all the way down to the station's central reactor. She was also glad that this was going to be her last stop before everything could go back to normal; no more lunatics, no more Working Joes, and no more of that creature that would probably be giving her nightmares for years to come.
"You're just about there, Ripley." Ricardo's voice said as the elevator began slowing down. "Apollo's interface dome should be right in front of you, and then you just tell it to back off, and everything can be normal again, yeah?"
"That's the plan." Ripley replied as it came to a stop. "Then we can find Taylor, and get as far away from this damn place as possible."
The Deputy seemed to like that idea, and his enthusiasm made her crack a smile for the first time in what felt forever. But before anything could go back to normal, Ripley needed to unfuck Apollo, so she stepped out into an enclosed area once the doors opened, and there was the interface dome. It was bigger than the interface housing that she had seen on even the largest ships, but it probably had to be, since this computer was responsible for running an entire station. The good news was that there didn't seem to be any Working Joes around, probably since Apollo didn't expect anyone to be able to get this far, and the better news was that the indicator above the access door was green.
"Okay, here we go." She said, walking up to the door. "Wish me luck."
"Good luck, Ripley." Ricardo replied as the opening cycle began. "Make sure you punch that asshole once in the central processor for me, yeah?"
She chuckled a bit while promising him that she would, and then there was a release of pressured oxygen as the door slid open. Inside was an enclosed chamber that was lined with instrument panels and white indicator lights that were constantly blinking, and in the center was a large chair with the actual interface terminal built onto the front. The door closed and sealed again once Ripley was inside, and she wasted no time in sitting down as the green startup menu flickered across the screen.
APOLLO CORE STARTUP
RESET PRIORITY COMMANDS 1990-80
SEEGSON PROFILE DELETED 0000-X-RW-W
ADMINISTRATION 1023
SECURITY CLEARANCE N:Y90
WEYLAND YUTANI SUBSYSTEM ONLINE
SET R OVERRIDE YN-Y
REBOOT COMPLETE
"Wait, wait, what?!" Ripley asked as she read the screen. "Since when does Weyland-Yutani have anything to do with Seegson?"
Not that she expected an answer, since everything on this interface had to be typed in manually, so she decided to take care of business before asking about anything else; typing the words DISENGAGE ANDROIDS before hitting the ENTER button. The command was processed, and a few seconds later Apollo's reply was displayed.
NEGATIVE
WY SPECIAL ORDER 939 IN PROGRESS
Okay, she thought, this was getting ridiculous. What the hell could Weyland-Yutani possibly have to do with a Seegson A.I., since everything that corporation did was internal? Everyone knew that Seegson was vertically integrated so that they controlled every single aspect of their products, from mining, all the way up to sales. But instead of wracking her brain for answers that it didn't have, Ripley just decided to ask Apollo. So she typed in the words WEYLAND-YUTANI? As before the inquiry was processed, and the reply came back a few seconds later.
WELYAND YUTANI OWNS AND OPERATES THIS FACILITY
PURCHASE ORDERS RECEIVED ON 11.21.2137
She wasn't so much surprised that the company had purchased Sevastopol, since Weyland-Yutani easily had the resources required, but it was the date that concerned her. If what Apollo said was true, and this station was purchased on November 21st, that would mean that it was bought two days after she and the others had left on the Torrens. Now, as weird and unnerving as this revelation was, there was something else that was bothering her, so she typed in the words WHAT IS SPECIAL ORDER 939? Part of her didn't want to know the answer, but that didn't stop her from looking at the response when it flashed across the screen.
PRIORITY ONE
PROTECT SPECIMEN
MAINTAIN STATION QUARANTINE
DISALLOW COMMUNICATIONS
ALL OTHER CONSIDERATIONS SECONDARY
At first Ripley wondered what was meant by specimen, but then a knot formed in her stomach when she realized that it was talking about the creature. But that would mean that the company knew about it in advance and didn't warn anyone for some reason, and that was just… stupid. Why would anyone actually want to protect that thing? What possible purpose could a monster like that serve, other than to murder everything in sight? Was that it? Did they somehow think that they could tame it or something? That plan would be even dumber than trying to protect it, but regardless… it was gone, so she typed in the words CREATURE NO LONGER ONBOARD SEVASTOPOL. SUSPEND SPECIAL ORDER 939 IMMEDIATELY.
Okay, she thought as the command was processed. No matter what kind of fucked up software the company had programmed into this thing, it was still a computer, and it still operated on a system of logic. Therefore, if the creature was no longer onboard the station, then there was no longer a valid reason to continue on with the special order. The response came through a second later.
NEGATIVE
SCHEDULED REACTOR SCANS ARE UNVERIFIED
Yep, a system of logic, she thought as she sighed with frustration. There was no longer a point in communicating with Apollo, since it wouldn't stand down until the reactor scans had been verified, but why hadn't the scans come through? One of them had probably gotten broken by one of Waits' traps or something, which meant that now Ripley had to go down into the central core and fix it before the Working Joes would stop. So she entered the words OPEN MAINTENANCE ACCESS TO CENTRAL CORE FOR MANUAL CHECK, and then terminated the interface.
The chamber powered down as she got up from the chair, and resealed itself once she left the dome, but a nearby hatch on the floor had opened, providing her with an access ladder to begin making her way down. Not wanting to spend any more time in one place, she grabbed onto the ladder, and began to descend into the engineering levels.
"Ricardo, you're not going to believe this." She said as she went down the long, dark shaft. "Apparently Seegson sold out; Apollo is running on Weyland-Yutani protocols. The company is running Apollo now, and its refusing to stop the Androids; says something's up with the reactor, so I'm headed down there now."
"The Reactor?!" Ricardo exclaimed, making her stop. "No, no, no, Ripley, absolutely not. You're with the company; just tell that fucking computer that you don't give a shit, and to do what you say."
It was a little embarrassing to admit that she was a small-fry as far as the company was concerned… in fact, so were Samuels and Taylor, or else Apollo probably wouldn't have been so ready to have them killed. But there was more than the usual concern in Ricardo's voice when she mentioned the reactor, and Ripley wasn't too pleased with his answer when she asked about it.
"But you can't go down there, Ripley." He explained as she resumed climbing. "There are Working Joes down there, but not the cleaning and maintenance ones you've seen before. I'm talking about the industrial models; bigger and stronger than the others, and I hate to say this, but you don't have Samuels around anymore to protect you."
"I know that, Ricardo." She replied, nearing the bottom of the shaft. "But Samuels sacrificed himself so that I could get here, so… I'll just have to be more careful."
It wasn't exactly an inspiring speech, but it was the best that she could do under current conditions, and it wasn't like Ricardo was the one down there risking his neck. He was sitting tight, back at the Marshal's Bureau, while she seemed to be the one constantly getting beaten and strangled. Maybe half this station's problem was that it suffered from a severe shortage of real men; with most of them pretty much hiding under the bed, while only Axel and Samuels had shown any backbone at all… and both had paid the price for it.
Not that the others hadn't suffered; Kuhlman had been brain-stabbed by the creature in what he thought was a safe zone, and Waits had been strangled by the Working Joes, but at least Axel and Samuels had actively tried to help her, instead of leaving her to fend for herself. Marlow was just as bad; probably running off to his ship with Taylor the moment things went bad… but then again, that probably saved her life, so was the Anesidora's Captain really as bad as the others?
By this time she had reached the bottom of the shaft, and once the circular cover slid open, Ripley found climbing out into a dimly lit corridor. This area lacked the polish and finishing touches, if it could be called that, which the rest of the station enjoyed, instead sticking to a more bare-bones, industrial look. The floor was the same kind of metal grate that would be found on scaffolding, and the pipes that ran along the walls and ceiling were exposed, while also leaking heavily, filling up the whole place with what felt like rain and mist.
"I'm in Engineering, Ricardo." She said while taking a look around. "I'm gonna need you to guide me down to the central reactor from…
Her words stopped as she heard something up ahead, and there was a stack of supply crates nearby, so she ducked down behind it, trying to ignore Ricardo's requests for her status as a Working Joe moved across the nearby junction. A bigger, but slower walking model that stomped its way across the metal floor. It was also wearing some kind of special suit, which probably kept it insulated from the water as well as electricity, given the work that the industrial models were required to do.
"Weyland… Yutani." It said with a deeper and slower voice than the others as it walked out of sight. "Building… better… worlds."